The Toy Shop: Amber's Visit
by Authenti
Summary: Based on the 1996 animated movie. A new kid finds out about the old toy shop's secret, and accidentally finds Master Jack at the back of the shelf. Chaos ensues, and Master Jack finds girls are slightly harder to subdue now than when Katherine was around.


This fanfiction is for the old 1996 animated film called "The Toy Shop". As far as I know, it was produced in Britain, and I can't find hide nor hair of it on the web – not even a mention. Still, I recently found the old VHS hiding at the back of the bookshelf and I decided to write a little tribute to it. Contains an OC.

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Katherine stroked the little girl's hair quietly, smiling as she hummed a lullaby she remembered from a long time ago. The girl was just like her when she was that age, she decided. Apart from the looks. Amber looked nothing like her – with dirty-blonde hair and a fixation for goggles, the girl wasn't exactly the spitting image of Katherine's childhood. But her personality… well, she was feisty, that was for certain. She had her mother's eyes. Grey with a hint of blue, that would fade as she grew older.

Katherine loved looking after her friend's daughter, mainly because she reminded her so much of herself. She didn't seem to care much for dolls, though. Her video games were her chief interest, and it was almost saddening to see how little attention all of the old toys were getting.

Amber stirred in her sleep and pulled her thumb out of her mouth, yawning widely and rubbing her eyes. "Mhhn… Aunty Kathy? Where's mummy?"

"Your mother will be back tomorrow to pick you up, remember? You're staying here tonight while your parents go out for dinner."

"Huhnn. Okay." The girl slipped off Katherine's lap and fiddled with the aviator goggles around her neck as she searched her suitcase for her handheld games console. She found it and triumphantly flicked the power switch… but the screen faded to black almost immediately.

"Aw! Nooo! Aunty Kathy, it's out of batteries! And I didn't bring the charger thingy!"

"Oh, what a shame. Don't worry, though, I know something much better than that silly old thing." She smiled, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, and Amber frowned and folded her arms sulkily.

"What could be better than Super-Tabby 2, Curse Of The Cat Vampire?"

Katherine stood up and took her niece's hand firmly, ruffling her hair playfully. "Come on. We're going out."

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"Aunty Kathy? Is this the toy shop those fairy stories were about?"

"…Yes, Amber. But they weren't just fairy stories."

"Huh? But Aunty, magic doesn't exist!"

"I never mentioned anything about magic, hon. Now go on in. My Aunt Haggis bought the place and left it to me in her will, so you'll be just fine doing whatever you want in there."

"Can I take Super-Tabby, in case I find some batteries?"

"No." She whisked the game out of her niece's hands, chuckling, and with a firm hand on the child's back, pushed her through the door. As the familiar shop bell rang and the door opened, she gave a sly wink to the dinosaur toy in the window. "I'm going to make a deposit at the bank and have a chat with my cousin Matthew. I'll be back in one hour. Have fun." With that, the red-haired woman slipped back out of the door and raised a hand to her lips to stifle laughter. Under normal circumstances, she would never have left a child on her own like that.

But that shop hardly classed as normal.

Inside, Amber cast about for an arcade game of some sort. Nothing caught her eye, and she sighed deeply as she collapsed against the wall beneath a shelf of toy soldiers and slid down it to the floor.

"Bah. There's nothing to do," she murmured to herself, eyes closing of their own accord. "These old toys are so dumb."

"Hey! I resent that!"

Amber jolted upright, eyes wide open, and stared about in surprise. "Who's there?"

"We are!"

"Wh-!" She had no time to finish before a plush green dinosaur leapt into her arms and smiled brightly up at her. "Yeeeh!" she screeched, and fumbled madly with the toy before regaining her sense and catching it before it fell. "Y-you can talk!?"

"Haha! Didn't Katherine ever tell you about us? She told us all about you!"

"W-wait, who are you? How can you talk? Is it magic!?"

"Oh, I don't know anything about that," a teddy-bear said, rubbing the bridge of its nose with one fuzzy paw. "You're funny!"

The dinosaur leapt out of her arms and onto the floor. "My name's Dynah! This is Cinnamon," the dinosaur explained as the bear bowed deeply, "and this is Tinker." A furry white beanie cat gambolled forwards and purred around the child's ankles.

"Oh. Hello? I mean, I don't know what to say."

"Just say you'll play with us!" the cat mewled. Amber hesitated for a few moments, and then a daring smile appeared on her face. She shifted the goggles around her neck to her forehead instead. She did this when she was in one of those 'I mean business' moods, and it made her feel more at ease.

"Then… Tig! You're it!" She prodded the cat and leapt to one side, hopping on one foot as she tried to keep her balance around the corner of a shelf and then charging off towards the back of the shop.

"Hey! No fair!" Tinker yelled as all the other toys fled in different directions, laughing. "I wasn't readyyy!" she called, darting after Amber as fast as her plush legs would carry her.


End file.
